Entertainment Weekly reports that the beloved Lost alumna has booked a Season 4 arc on the ABC series as a “possibly malevolent” character with ties to Frozen sisters Elsa and Anna, as well as to Storybrooke.

But where does that leave Mitchell (whose TV credits also include Revolution and V)? Once‘s riff on the Frozen tale takes place after the events of the animated hit, so the girls’ mom is still very much dead (or at least lost at sea). But if Mitchell is playing evil, maybe she is… what, Heat Meiser? Or — still spitballing here! — what if in the Once version, Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen is in fact a separate character from Elsa, and that‘s who she’s playing?

What if, and this might be a stretch, she’s playing Juliet and she needs to get Elsa back to the island, so that Dharma can continue their research. And if you think of it, it explains the presence of a polar bear on the island!

You’re making me miss my most favorite show of all time. I think she will probably be in flashbacks. It would be cool to see Regina face off with another baddie though in the present. She needs to be redeemed at some point. Just glad to see Elizabeth back again on tv so soon. She was fantastic on Revolution.

As far as Peter Pan goes, they weren’t Canonizing the events of the Disney version of that story in terms of the Once-verse’s mythology the way that they are with the events of FROZEN, which is why they were able to get away with turning him into a villain.

“we don’t know that they are exactly canonizing everything about the movie, do we?”

Yes.

The character descriptions explicitly reference the events from the film, A&E have stated that they have no intention of retreading or retelling the events of the film in any way, and information from some of the actors (including Georgina Haig herself) indicates that what they are doing very much builds on what happened in the film.

Exactly. They have more villain potential already than the original Pan story- and look at what hay they made out of “child who doesn’t like growing old”. This is a mom whose kid could have been fixed by unconditional love, and she couldn’t do that. Totally enough for the OUAT team to make her villainous. [She survives the shipwreck but choses not to return home. BOOM Issues.]

True. And I’m still not sure why they couldn’t have told Anna right from the start that “hey, your sister has powers that she can’t control and she’s afraid of hurting you again” instead of making Anna think Elsa hated her for all those years. Because then there would be no movie, I guess.

Didn’t Elsa’s mom give her the glove to help her. She wore the glove so that she wouldn’t freeze anything.
Locking her away was all Elsa’s part because she didn’t know how to cope with her powers so she locked herself up to protect everyone.
Sorry, if I’m wrong here…I’ve been only able to see the movie once,

The movie’s biggest flaw is in how Elsa’s parents handled the problem. Elsa didn’t hurt Anna on purpose, it was accidental. What she needed was to learn how to control her abilities, not hide them from others and from herself.

My crazy idea is she will play Aurora’s mother and an aunt to the Frozen sisters or she will tie in as a Camelot character, Just a hunch, but probably a really long shot! Hopefully it will be revealed at Comic Con!

I had a similar thought as Matt with her being the Snow Queen, possibly responsible for Elsa’s curse, but also potentially the real person Rumple meant to keep hidden away as opposed to Elsa. Or she’s Regina’s half step sister haha

I’m almost certain that she will play the Snow Queen, or at least be closer to the book character than Elsa ever was; she could also not be a magical character at all but rather an evil royal from a foreign country like Hans; if Once follows Elsa & co after the events of Frozen, we need to remember that she became good, or rather everyone finally saw that she was actually good, than why was she locked in that bottle in Rumpelstiltskin vault; he may also be her connection with Storybrooke;

Love Elizabeth Mitchell and hope that Adam & Eddy do right by her. I need to reread the Hans Christian Andersen tale. Bill Willingham’s “Fables” did a neat interpretation of the Snow Queen. Perhaps ONCE will also find a way to involve “Jack Frost” in this storyline, and bring in Mitchell’s LOST sort-of-son-from-season-6 Dylan Minnette.

No offence to those who like her but not a favorite of mine. She seems to have this bored look all th time in her face. I didnt care for her in V and I quit revolution because the writers wanted her and Miles together. No thanks.

Rachel and Miles would have made a good couple, Charlie agreed in the final episode. If anything perhaps after dealing with the nano they end up together, in what’s left of the United States. That or Miles becomes a figurehead and leads a small settlement.

The official character descriptions for Anna and Elsa are in sync with Elizabeth Lail and Georgina Haig’s ages, so I find it highly unlikely that they were cast solely to play younger versions of the characters in flashback.

I just hope they explain how Elsa got her powers. Perhaps she is secretly adopted like James/David and actually is the daughter of EM’s character (perhaps the Snow Queen) and King Midas. Thus everything she touches freezes instead of turns to gold.

Maybe they will be exploring Flash Forwards in the show – much like how they did in LOST. And she will in fact be playing a much older Elsa.

Just spitballing here – Georgina Haig and Elizabeth Lail are similar age. But something would have happened to Anna to turn Elsa against Rumple and hence why he had locked her in that urn for a long time and thus you have an older Elsa. Perhaps Haig and Lail are playing those characters in flashbacks.

In any case.. i hope her character is impacting enough that she sticks around.
Pretty sad that Rebecca Mader is gone. =(

Probably THe White Witch of Narnia. I don’t think Disney will allow Elsa to be portrayed as a villain. So the show needs a new Big Bad. The WHite Witch does fit in with the ice and snow theme of season 4. And I think Disney has the rights to Narnia. So I think Elizabeth Mitchell will be Jadis the WHite Witch. But my real question in all of this is: How is she related to Henry?

Why on earth does OUAT think they need to put her on the show? Seriously, what is the fascination with this woman? She is bland, boring and has annoyed me in nearly everything I’ve ever seen her in. Same bland expression, same boring personality. And every show she’s ever been in is no longer on tv.

It is nice they got one of the actresses the fans wanted, even if it is not for one of the main roles. I remember a survey placed on here where people were requesting for people like Idena Menzel or Kristen Bell. Obviously Menzel was not available (and probably too old) to play the role, and Kristen Bell was not available as well. With Elizabeth Mitchell they have an actress with a solid track record, but not young enough to play one of the sisters. If she is written in as their mother that would be neat….

I would love to see Elizabeth play a young Granny. There are many Santa/Christmas nods in Red-Handed and Elizabeth was Mrs. Clause in the Santa Clause 2 and 3. This could tie in so well with the frozen story and there is a similar story in throwing off the cloak and learning to control the icymagic and learning to control the wolf.

My first thought upon the speculation of Elizabeth joining the cast was that they may push the Snow Queen into it as well…. Before they released anything about the story I thought that they were actually going to make Elsa into the actual character of the Snow Queen.

Actually, I wanted to see Elizabeth Mitchell on Revolution. And before that on V. But as usual both those series bit the dust before the stories got to play out. I do like Ms. Mitchell very much so I will be interested in seeing what she brings to ONCE UPON A TIME, which is one of the few series left on my must watch list.